Review: America’s Army: True Soldiers for Xbox 360

America’s Army has been a U.S. Army-created PC game for a few years now, but the franchise is growing. I played a full-size simulation of America’s Army at Digital Life late last year, and I was somewhat freaked out by the experience, which included a rocking Humvee and real decommissioned weapons with kickback. But now the game is on the Xbox 360, and it’s a full-priced title. Will it be the most true-to-life military experience on the platform, or just another 360 shooter?.

Graphically, AA: True Soldiers is not quite as good looking as I would have hoped, given that Ubisoft built it on the GRAW 2 engine. Explosions, gunfire, people’s faces, terrain, and buildings–just about everything looks a little less impressive than Call of Duty 4. The weapons are supposedly built to the specifics of the U.S. Army, and yet somehow AA didn’t surpass the unaffiliated CoD4.

You’ll want to start on multi-player, and probably not leave it. It’s not exactly as easy to get into a game as Halo 3, but it certainly doesn’t take as long as most other titles. Although your character moves molasses slow, the general teamwork and map layout are solid. I also noticed that the players were a bit more mature; in terms of language and team work, if not necessarily age. The missions may have a slightly more militaristic feel than in other shooters, particularly as you get better and specialize a little more. And sure, you can try to execute orders just like real soldiers. Still, I don’t know that it rises beyond the level of a typical shooter in this regard.

I was hoping for more off-line, but the single-player experience is extremely frustrating. Basic Training is not much more than it sounds; you go through a series of shooting and other tasks, one more tedious than the next. War Games, meanwhile, are not much more than a very, very slow paced version of paintball. You’re ordered along through a series of checkpoints, and then you fire sporadically at fellow soldiers, who immediately sit down (the non-lethal version of K.I.A.). The biggest issue with the game is that it’s so challenging, even on the easiest setting, that you are forced to replay missions. Even before you’re fully K.I.A. you get put into a sort of “Time Out” until one of your team members can come rescue you.

This would not be awful in most games, but in AA, it really is. It’s supposed to be real life, so there’s no chance to save mid-mission on your own or when you pass a checkpoint. Also, you have to sit through the same opening dialog without getting through it. And that’s not all. Sound sinks to new levels of terrible, as each sergeant’s barked order or team member’s joke is scripted, and so it happens identically each time regardless of the action unfolding. And to add insult to injury, load times are miserably long.

In America’s Army: True Soldiers, most of the “realism” directly interferes with the fun. The game is only palatable in its multi-player form, which is a real shame. I would have liked to see the game put gamers inside the shoes of real soldiers on real missions, with compelling backstories and rich dialog. Unfortunately, this game does not build any camaraderie between players and the NPC squadmates, so you don’t care when they’re dusted. That’s a shame.

All told, this is not a game worth purchasing even for someone strongly considering a role in the armed services. I’m sure the saying “hurry up and wait” accurately applies to war. Additionally, “war is Hell” is another fitting description. And yet, I don’t think this kind of endless drudgery has a place in a videogame. If this is supposed to be a glorified advertisement for joining up, I must have missed Uncle Sam’s call.